description of the separation of the sisters, when their mother entreats them to leave her. And they lifted up their voice and wept again: and scious of the high honour which awaited him, that when Samuel emphatically asks, "Is not the desire of the people on thee, and on thy father's house?" he answers with Orpah kissed her mother-in-law; but Ruth clave unto perfect humility and simplicity of heart, her. And she said, Behold, thy sister-in-law is gone back unto her people, and unto her gods: return thou after thy sister-in-law. Am not I a Benjamite, of the smallest of the tribes of Israel? and my family the least of all the families of the tribe of Benjamin 1 wherefore then speakest thou so to me ? And Ruth said, Entreat me not to leave thee, or to return from following after thee: for whither thou goest, I will go; and where thou lodgest, I will lodge: thy peo-Yet, ple shall be my people, and thy God my God: Where thou diest, will I die, and there will I be buried: the Lord do so to me, and more also, if aught but death part thee and me. it was so, that when he had turned his back to go from Samuel, God gave him another heart. asked counsel of God before he went down We have no reason to suppose an ambiIn speaking of poetry as it relates to the tious heart, but rather a heart enlarged with passions, and to the minor impulses, and a conception of the favour of the Almighty, finer sensibilities of human nature, as well and filled with the spirit of prophecy, and as to the scenes and circumstances most with all heavenward aspirations; so that, calculated for their developement, we have under a sense of the responsibility of sendno hesitation in pointing out the life and ing forth as a king, an edict among his character of Saul, as one, abounding per-people, he built an altar unto the Lord, and haps more than any other in the Scriptures, with poetical interest. The book of Job is one of poetry itself, yet the character of the sublime sufferer does not afford the variety exhibited in that of Saul. Prostrate in the dust of the earth, and still holding communion with the Deity, we behold him as an isolated being, struck out from the common lot, and set apart for a particular dispensation, whose severity was sufficient to fill a more human heart with bitterness. But the experience of Saul is that of a more ordinary man, with whom we can fully sympa thize, as we go along with him through those great national and social changes, by which men of common mould are often placed before the world in a point of view so striking and important, as to entitle them to the name of great. We recognize in the king of Israel the same motives and feelings by which men in all ages have been influenced; yet while we speak of him as a less extraordinary character than Job, it is only so far as the features of his character are more intelligible and familiar to our observation and experience; for every thing recorded of him in his eventful history, bespeaks a mind imbued at the same time with power and sensibility, and a soul capable of the extremes both of good and evil. We behold him first a simple youth-a choice young man, and a goodly, so uncon after the Philistines. Thus far we find him obedient as a man, and faithful as a sovereign; for his heart was yet uncorrupted by the temptations which surround a throne: but the power of leading and governing others, soon produced its natural and frequent consequence-a disposition to be guided by his own inclination, and to resist all higher authority. Thus, when commanded to go and smite the Amalekites, infant and suckling, ox and sheep, camel and utterly to slay both men and women, and ass, he spared Agag and the best of the sheep, and of the oxen, and of the fatlings, and of the lambs, and all that was good, and would not utterly destroy them; thereby transgressing the great paramount law, no less necessary for the right gov ernment of an infant mind, than for an infant world—the law of obedience. Then came the word of the Lord unto Samuel, saying, It repenteth me that I have set up Saul to be king: for he is turned back from following me, and hath not performed my commandments. And it grieved Samuel; and he cried unto the Lord all night. And when Samuel rose up early to meet Saul in the morning, it was told Samuel, saying, Saul came up to Carmel, and, behold, he set him up a place, and is gone about, and passed on, and gone down to Gilgal. And Samuel came to Saul: and Saul said unto him, Blessed be thou of the Lord: I have performed the com mandment of the Lord. And Samuel said, What meaneth then this bleating of And Samuel said, When thou wast little in thine own sight, wast thou not made the head of the tribes of Israel, and the Lord anointed thee king over Israel? And the Lord sent thee on a journey, and said, Go and utterly destroy the sinners of the Amalekites, and fight against them until they be consumed. Wherefore then didst thou not obey the voice of the Lord, but didst fly upon the spoil, and didst evil in the sight of the Lord } After this reproof from Samuel, Saul again endeavours to justify himself by proving that the reservation he had made was solely for the purpose of sacrificing to the Lord, when the prophet emphatically asks, Hath the Lord as great delight in burnt offerings and sacrifices, as in obeying the voice of the Lord? Behold, to obey is better than sacrifice, and to hearken than the fat of rams. To Samuel, who seems hitherto to have stood in the capacity of an intercessor between him and the Divine Majesty, Saul now humbles himself, and entreats that he will pardon his sin, and turn again with him, that he may worship the Lord. And when still rejected, he humbles himself yet more, and prays (Oh! how naturally!) that at least the prophet will honor him before the people, that the world may not witness his degradation. And now Samuel yields, but we are told soon after that he came no more to see Saul until the day of his death; nevertheless he mourned for him, and the Lord repented that he had made Saul king over Israel. And the Spirit of the Lord departed from Saul, and an evil spirit from the Lord troubled him. strel chosen to come and charm away, with the melody of his harp, the evil spirit from the mind of his predecessor in authority; and that Saul should arise relieved and refreshed by the music of the instrument of his future torment. For it is not long before envy enters into his heart, adding its envenomed stings to the anguish he is already enduring. He hears the song of the dancing women as they meet him with tabrets and with joy, answering one another, and saying, that Saul hath slain his thousands, and David his tens of thousands, and he asks, What can David have more but the kingdom? Yet after this he promises him his daughter in marriage, but quickly repenting him of the purposed honour, bestows her upon another. Again, hoping she may be a snare to him, he offers him his second daughter; and then we are told that he saw and knew that the Lord was with David, and that his daughter loved him. And Saul was yet the more afraid of David; and he became his enemy continually: yet once more at the earnest intercession of Jonathan, Saul consents to receive David again into his presence. And Jonathan called David, and Jonathan shewed him all those things. And Jonathan brought David to Saul, And there was war again: and David went out and And the evil spirit from the Lord was upon Saul, as he sat in his house with his javelin in his hand: and David played with his hand. And Saul sought to smite David even to the wall with the javelin; but he slipped away out of Saul's presence, and he smote the javelin into the wall: and David fled, and escaped that night. The struggle was now passed The early tendency of the soul of the king to seek, and to do good, was finally subdued, and he went forth to pursue the chosen of the Lord, as an open and avowed enemy; yet, enHow descriptive is this passage of this vouring to justify himself by proving that gradual falling away from Divine favour, David had first risen up against him, he apwhich sometimes darkens and weighs down peals to his servants, and fully conscious the soul, filling it with gloomy thoughts, and that his cause would not stand the test of sad forebodings, long before the melancholy impartial examination, he appeals to their change is perceptible in the outward charac-interest, and to their compassion, rather than ter. And how strikingly does it illustrate to their judgment. the hidden, and to us mysterious workings of the great plan of Providence, that the future king of Israel, already secretly appointed captains of thousands, and captains of hundreds; by Divine commission, should be the min Hear now, ye Benjamites; will the son of Jesse give every one of you fields and vineyards, and make you all That all of you have conspired against me, and there is none that sheweth me that my son hath made a league with the son of Jesse, and there is none of you that is sorry for me, or sheweth unto me that my son hath stirred up my servant against me, to lie in wait, as at this day? Filled with rancour and jealousy, heightened by the rising fame and influence of David, Saul pursues him to the wilderness of Engedi, where we meet with a remarkable instance of forbearance on the part of a With persecuted man. the skirt of the king's robe in his hand, David shows him that he had advanced so near his person as to have been able with the same facility to destroy his life, but that he spared him from reverence for the Lord's anointed. When, struck at once with a sense of his own recent danger, with the honourable dealing of one whom he believed to be an enemy, with the sight of the man he had once loved-loved in the days when his heart was not as now, seared with the worst of passions; and perhaps touched more than all with the tones of the voice which in those happier days had been his music, Saul exclaims, Is this thy voice, my son David? and then he lifted up his voice and wept. After this burst of tenderness, his heart is opened to express the full sense he had of David's superiority, and the strong feeling ever present to his mind, that he should one day be compelled to resign the reins of government into his hands. And he said to David, Thou art more righteous than I: for thou hast rewarded me good, whereas I have rewarded thee evil. And now, behold, I know well that thou shalt surely be king, and that the kingdom of Israel shall be established in thine hand. A second instance of a similar kind occurs, in which Saul appears to be struck, though less forcibly, with the generosity of David, whom he still addresses as his son, and of whom he again prophesies, that he "shall do great things, and shall still prevail." But these transient ebullitions of former feeling pass away before the gathering influence of David, and Saul humbles himself to seek consolation under his falling fortunes from the last miserable and barren resource of the utterly destitute in soul. Samuel is dead, and though the king had, from the impulse of his better judgment, Then said the woman, Whom shall I bring up unto thee? And he said, Bring me up Samuel. And when the woman saw Samuel, she cried with a loud voice; and the woman spake to Saul, saying, Why hast thou deceived me? for thou art Saul. And the king said unto her, Be not afraid: for what sawest thou? And the woman said unto Saul, I saw gods ascending out of the earth. And he said unto her, What form is he of? And she said, An old man cometh up; and he is covered with a mantle. And Saul perceived that it was Samuel, and he stooped with his face to the ground, and bowed himself. And Samuel said to Saul, Why hast thou disquieted me, to bring me up? And Saul answered, I am sore distressed; for the Philistines make war against me, and God is departed from me, and answereth me no more, neither by prophets, nor by dreams: therefore I have called thee, that thou mayst make known unto me what I shall do. Then said Samuel, Wherefore then dost thou ask of me, seeing the Lord is departed from thee, and is become thine enemy? And the Lord hath done to him as he spake by me: for the Lord hath rent the kingdom out of thine hand, and given it to thy neighbour, even to David: Because thou obeyedst not the voice of the Lord, nor executedst his fierce wrath upon Amalek, therefore hath the Lord done this thing unto thee this day. Moreover the Lord will also deliver Israel with thee into the hand of the Philistines; and to-morrow shalt thou and thy sons be with me: the Lord also shall deliver the host of Israel into the hand of the Philistines. Then Saul fell straightway all along on the earth, and was sore afraid, because of the words of Samuel and there was no strength in him; for he had eaten no bread all the day, nor all the night. How affecting is this picture of the abject state of a fallen king-fallen not so much from earthly honour, as from the countenance and protection of the King of kings. Even Saul, the envious persecutor of his unoffending successor, becomes an object of compassion, when he answers to the question of Samuel, "Why hast thou disquieted me?" "Because I am sore distressed." And when it is said that "he stooped with his face to the ground," and finally "fell straightway all along upon the earth," there can scarcely be a stronger description of total abandonment of soul under a deep sense of the overwhelming might of Omnipotence; as well as of a melancholy presage of the entire uprooting of all that he had trusted and gloried in. Yet scarcely trusted in, for he had greatly feared the thing which was about to come upon him, and which the awful voice of the prophet risen from the dead had solemnly confirmed. The doom of the king of Israel was now sealed. And when the Philistines arose and fought against Israel, and "followed hard after Saul and his sons, and the Philistines slew Jonathan, and Abinadab, and Melchishua, Saul's sons ;" And the battle went sore against Saul, and the archers hit him; and he was sore wounded of the archers; Then said Saul unto his armour-bearer, Draw thy sword, and thrust me through therewith; lest these uncircumcised come and thrust me through, and abuse me. But his armour-bearer would not; for he was sore afraid. Therefore Saul took a sword, and fell upon it. Through the whole of this history, we trace the same strong and natural developement of feeling, which all our most talented authors aspire to in their descriptions, and upon which they chiefly depend for the poetical interest of what they describe. But while in the character of Saul are forcibly portrayed the fatal workings of the passions of envy, jealousy, and remorse, accompanied with many of those delicate shades, which denote the latest yearnings after good, and the earliest tendency to evil, the character of David is scarcely less poetical in its strength, and beauty, and consistency, varied by a few instances of natural weakness, producing their own atonement in the humiliation, the abasement, the agony of mind, and the final welcome back to Divine love, by which they are succeeded. The attachment between David and Jonathan is perhaps the most beautiful and perfect instance of true friendship which we have on record. As a shepherd, and a prince, their first covenant is made. Then Jonathan and David made a covenant, because he loved him as his own soul. And Jonathan stripped off the robe that was upon him, and gave it to David, and his garments, even to his sword, and to his bow, and to his girdle. And we see the same covenant binding them together through all the changes of their after life; for Jonathan, who loved the simple minstrel boy that charmed away the evil spirit from his father, ki.cw not the envy of Saul when that minstrel became a man of war, and multitudes were gathered beneath his banner. And David, persecuted as he was by the father of his friend, never once betrayed towards him or his, the bitterness of an injured spirit, but followed him even to his death, with the reverence due to the Lord's anointed. It is then that he pours forth, both for Saul and Jonatan, that beautiful and affecting lamentation, which no language can exceed in poetry and pathos. The beauty of Israel is slain upon thy high places: how are the mighty fallen! Tell it not in Gath, publish it not in the streets of Askelon; lest the daughters of the Philistines rejoice, lest the daughters of the uncircumcised triumph. Ye mountains of Gilboa, let there be no dew, neither let there be rain, upon you, nor fields of offerings: for there the shield of the mighty is vilely cast away, the shield of Saul, as though he had not been anointed with oil. From the blood of the slain, from the fat of the mighty, the bow of Jonathan turned not back, and the sword of Saul returned not empty. Saul and Jonathan were lovely and pleasant in their lives, and in death they were not divided: they were swifter than eagles, they were stronger than lions. Ye daughters of Israel, weep over Saul, who clothed you in scarlet, with other delights, who put on ornaments of gold upon your apparel. Jonathan, thou wast slain in thine high places. How are the mighty fallen in the midst of the battle! I am distressed for thee, my brother Jonathan: very pleasant hast thou been unto me: thy love to me was wonderful, passing the love of woman. How are the mighty fallen, and the weapons of war perished! There is an instance of maternal affection recorded in the 21st chapter of the same book, which in speaking of the strength of human passions ought not to be passed over without notice. It is where David was commanded to destroy the remnant of the house of Saul, and seven sons of the late king were delivered up into his hand, but he spared Mephibosheth, the son of Jonathan, because of the Lord's oath that was between David and Jonathan. But the king took the two sons of Rizpah, the daughter of Aiah, whom she bare unto Saul, Armoni and Mephibosheth; and the five sons of Michal, the daughter of Saul, whom she brought up for Adriel, the son of Barzillai, the Meholathite; And he delivered them into the hands of the Gibeon ites, and they hanged them in the hill before the Lord: and they fell all seven together, and were put to death of ordinary discussion, in a sphere more exclusively appropriated to considerations in the days of harvest, in the first days, in the beginning of infinitely greater importance. of barley harvest. And Rizpah, the daughter of Aiah, took sackcloth, and spread it for her upon the rock, from the beginning of harvest, until water dropped upon them out of heaven, and suffered neither the birds of the air to rest on them by day, nor the beasts of the field by night. Of all the instances, imaginary or real, handed down to us by fable or history, we have not one of a more intense and devoted love than this. A solitary woman seated upon a rock, watching the wasting bodies of her two dead sons, day after day-night after night-with no shelter but the open canopy of heaven-no repose but the sackcloth spread upon the rock, an emblem of her own abasement-no hope but to see the last-the very last of all she loved-no consolation but her constancy-no support but the magnitude of her own incommunicable grief. It was the beginning of harvest, and the feet of a busy multitude might come and go beneath that solitary rock-the shout of gladness-the acclamation of the joyous reapers might be heard from the valleys below; but there she sat in her loneliness upon the dismal watch tower of death, faithful to her silent and sacred trust, suffering neither the birds of the air to rest on them by day, nor the beasts of the field by night. The whole life of the prophet Elijah, especially his last appearance upon earth, is remarkable for an interest whose least recommendation is that of being highly poetical; for deeply as this subject has occupied the heart of the writer, it must be confessed that in pursuing it through the Holy Scriptures, and tracing its connexion with the revelation of those sacred truths upon which depend our hopes of eternity, the consideration of poetry loses much of its importance by comparison, and the task of the writer becomes like that of one who culls with adventurous hand, the flowers that grow around the fountain of life. This view of the subject would of itself be sufficient to prevent any near approach to the doctrinal parts of the Scriptures, whose strictly spiritual import, though still couched in language both figurative and poetical in the extreme, places them above the reach Some further progress may however be justifiable in the course we hope we have hitherto pursued without profaning what is pure, or violating what is sacred; and we consequently pause at that passage in the book of Kings, in which the prophet Elijah is described as escaping from his enemies into the solitude of the wilderness, where, casting himself upon the ground, he exclaims, "It is enough; now, O Lord, take away my life, for I am not better than my fathers." Such were the human feelings contending for the empire of his mind, that he was almost weary of the service of his Divine Master, accompanied as it was with disappointment, hatred, and persecution. How simple, and yet how admirably adapted to his peculiar state, are the means here adopted to bring him again to a sense of the superintending care and love of his heavenly Father. And as he lay and slept under a juniper tree, behold, then an angel touched him, and said unto him, Arise and eat. And he looked, and behold, there was a cake baken ɔn the coals, and a cruse of water at his head. And he did eat and drink, and laid him down again. And the angel of the Lord came again a second time, and touched him, and said, Arise and eat; because the journey is too great for thee. And he arose, and did eat and drink, and went in the strength of that meat forty days and forty nights unto Horeb the mount of God. And he came thither unto a cave, and lodged there, and behold, the word of the Lord came unto him, What dost thou here, Elijah? And he said, I have been very jealous for the Lord God of hosts: for the children of Israel have forsaken thy covenant, thrown down thine altars, and slain thy pro phets with the sword; and I, even I only, am left; and they seek my life, to take it away. And he said, Go forth, and stand upon the mount before the Lord. And, behold, the Lord passed by, and a great and strong wind rent the mountains, and brake in pieces the rocks before the Lord; but the Lord was not in the wind and after the wind an earthquake; but the Lord was not in the earthquake. And after the earthquake a fire; but the Lord was not in the fire and after the fire a still small voice. And it was so, when Elijah heard it, that he wrapped his face in his mantle, and went out, and stood in the entering in of the cave. And, behold, there came a voice unto him, and said, What dost thou here, Elijah? Where, through the wide range of modern literature can we find a passage to be compared with this, for the conciseness and sim |